High Court

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT HIGH COURT - PAGE 5

PIERRE (AP) — The state Supreme Court has ruled that a northeastern South Dakota county doesn’t have to hold a vote on a controversial zoning ordinance. A citizens group in Grant County lobbied the county to change the required distance between homes and dairies or other large-scale animal operations. When the county refused, the citizens group collected signatures to force a referendum on the zoning change. The county board of commissioners declined to hold a vote.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court has sustained Monsanto Co.'s claim that an Indiana farmer violated the company's patents on soybean seeds that are resistant to its weed-killer. The justices, in a unanimous vote Monday, rejected the farmer's argument that cheap soybeans he bought from a grain elevator are not covered by the Monsanto patents, even though most of them also were genetically modified to resist the company's Roundup herbicide. Justice Elena Kagan says a farmer who buys patented seeds must have the patent holder's permission.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Monday turned down an appeal from a former Tennessee poultry farmer who sued Tyson Farms after losing his contract to raise their chickens. The justices did not comment in turning away Alton Terry, who said Tyson cut him off because he helped organize area farmers and complained about the company's practices. Lower courts had previously dismissed the lawsuit. Terry, essentially, argued that he lost his contract to raise chickens on his 12-acre farm, because he squawked too much.

SISSETON — Court documents say an 18-year-old South Dakotan accused of possessing explosives wrote that he wanted to blow up the Sisseton High School, torture and rape women and ‘‘become the world's most infamous sociopath. " Joseph Thomas Hansen of Claire City is charged with selling, transporting or possessing an explosive device and possessing substances with the intent to make a destructive device. Authorities say he had explosives, fuses, pipe caps, pipes and other items including weapons and ammunition at his home when it was searched earlier this month.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) Â? The South Dakota Supreme Court has overturned a Huron man's convictions for selling and possessing marijuana in a case based on a confidential informant who died before the trial. The high court says Anthony Clifford Johnson was denied his constitutional right to confront a witness against him when a police detective testified that the informant had told him he could buy marijuana from Johnson. The Supreme Court ordered that Johnson get a new trial on the drug charges.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota farmer who believes stray voltage killed hundreds of his cows and affected milk production can sue for damages in state court. A Minnesota Supreme Court ruling Wednesday allows Greg Siewert and his father, Harlan, to proceed with their case against Xcel Energy. The Siewerts, of Zumbro Falls, sued back in 2004 and were ready to go to trial. But Xcel Energy argued the issue should be heard by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission instead.

WASHINGTON - A house that sits on the water is a floating home, not a vessel, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The 7-2 decision upholds laws in California, Washington and other states that say houseboats are governed by local laws applying to homes, not maritime law that regulates vessels. Justice Stephen Breyer said a vessel is something that is "actually used for transportation. " It is not "anything that floats," he added. The high court ruling is a victory for a Florida man who parked his gray, two-story houseboat at a marina in Rivera Beach, Fla. City officials later seized it for unpaid fees and had it destroyed.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) Â? The South Dakota Supreme Court has ruled that drugs seized in the search of a car stopped at an interstate rest area cannot be used as evidence against a Chicago man. The high court says the Highway Patrol trooper who found the drugs had no reasonable suspicion to justify detaining Sean P. Haar or having a drug dog sniff Haar's vehicle. Court documents indicate that the trooper found more than 97 pounds of marijuana and some prescription pain pills in Haar's station wagon.

Inmate claims current practices violate agreement PIERRE - A prison inmate serving a life sentence for murder can proceed with a lawsuit alleging prison officials violated his religious rights by changing the way kosher food is prepared for Jewish inmates, the state Supreme Court has ruled. The high court's unanimous opinion reinstates Charles E. Sisney's lawsuit that seeks to require prison officials to resume the use of prepackaged kosher meals. In two related cases where Sisney sought damages, the Supreme Court upheld the dismissal of nearly all of Sisney's claims.

The bankrupted Pope and Talbot lumber operation, rather than its former employees, was responsible to pay Rapid City Regional Hospital System for health care expenses of the workers and their families, the South Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The high court's 4-1 decision overturns a previous decision by Circuit Judge Randall Macy that the employees were responsible to pay Regional for health care services in the months after the bankruptcy. The Spearfish lumber business provided a self-insurance health plan and collected deductions from employees to pay for it. The high court's decision concluded that employees would be paying twice for services if they had to pay Regional.